Mayweather defeats Cotto in grueling fight

By Boxing News - 05/05/2012 - Comments

Image: Mayweather defeats Cotto in grueling fight(Photo credit: Naoki Fakoda) By Dan Ambrose: Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) had a brief window to defeat unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 26 KO’s) last night in the middle rounds of the fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

However, Cotto ran completely out of gas after the 8th round and ended up losing by a 12 round unanimous decision. I gave Cotto four rounds – 3rd, 5th, 6th and 8th – with Mayweather winning he rest of the rounds. For Cotto, that’s a minor victory because a lot of boxing fans thought he would lose every round and get knocked out. Mayweather, 35, didn’t have the size or the power to put it on Cotto the way that Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito did in the past.

Mayweather had Cotto hurt badly in the 12th after hitting him with a hard left uppercut that staggered Cotto badly. But for some reason Mayweather didn’t want to try and finish Cotto off, and instead moved around the remainder of the round seemingly content to win by a decision.

Mayweather controlled the 1st and 2nd rounds with pinpoint jabs, right hands and left hooks. Cotto stalked Mayweather during those rounds, but missed with most of his big shots and looked like he was still uncertain about whether he wanted to pull the trigger.

Cotto came on in the 3rd and fought well, landing hard right hands and jabs.

In the 4th round, Mayweather suffered a bloody nose from some of Cotto’s big shots. Mayweather controlled the early part of the round when he went right hand happy landing six consecutive looping right hands to the head of Cotto. In the last part of the round, Cotto landed some powerful right hands that made a mess of Mayweather’s nose. Cotto ended the round strong and continued to fight well in the 5th and 6th rounds.

Cotto put on a jabbing clinic in the 6th round, hitting Mayweather again and again with hard jabs as he came forward trying to take the fight to Cotto. This seemed to get Cotto kind of cocky, because he looked like another fighter completely, throwing hard jabs and right hands to the head of Mayweather. Cotto rarely missed in the round surprisingly.

Mayweather came back in the 7th to get the better of Cotto with short right hands and left hooks.

Cotto perhaps had his best round in the 8th when he teed off on Mayweather with hard power shots the entire round. Mayweather looked like an old and beaten fighter in that round with blood streaming out of his nose. However, that was all she wrote for Cotto, because he didn’t fight well after this round and looked slightly fatigued the rest of the way.

Mayweather came back and dominated rounds 9 through 12 with his left uppercuts, looping right hands and jabs. Cotto was able to back Mayweather up repeatedly to the ropes, but Mayweather was able to evade just enough of Cotto’s big shots to win the round.

Cotto started well in the 12th round but ran into a hard left uppercut from Mayweather staggered him. From then on, Mayweather was able to land at will with shots. However, he chose to move around and play keep away to run out the clock rather than press forward for a knockout. I think Mayweather would have stopped Cotto if he pressed forward and unloaded on him, but he seemed satisfied with just getting the win because he obviously knew he was ahead in the fight.

After the bout, Mayweather said “It’s about giving fans excitement. It comes with the territory. We got to suck it up and come hard. Miguel Cotto was a tough competitor. I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy fight, so you have to go out and execute the game plan and fight my heart out. Miguel Cotto is a future hall of fame fighter. He’s not a pushover. I fought at the weight he wanted to fight at 154. No catchweights. He’s a tough competitor. He came to fight. He didn’t come for survival. So when you come to fight and come with offense, I bit down like a true champion. He’s a tough competitor. What can I say?”



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